


Sunset

by rayenbow



Category: Mortal Instruments Series - Cassandra Clare
Genre: Angst, Break Up, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-02
Updated: 2013-09-02
Packaged: 2017-12-25 10:25:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 992
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/951981
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rayenbow/pseuds/rayenbow
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Finally, after a decade of struggling, he ended the chapter of his life that was Clary Fray.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sunset

**Author's Note:**

> The inevitable follow up of Immortal.

Adjustment was hard, but they managed. 

She took to being a vampire well, as if it were as easy as breathing. Drinking blood didn’t seem to bother her, neither did never seeing the sunlight. If it did bother her, she never spoke of it. She loved the speed and agility and strength she possessed. She loved being able to straddle his hips and pin his wrists to the bed and beam when he couldn’t dislodge her.

To be honest, he didn’t mind that so much, either.

But there was a lot he did mind. She wasn’t warm and soft anymore. She didn’t smell like sunlight and strawberry lip gloss and fruity bubblegum. She didn’t smell like anything, really. Vampires never did. He couldn’t stay awake at night and listen to her breathing. She didn’t need to breathe anymore. And he never felt her heart beat against against his chest when he held her. She didn’t have a heartbeat. She wasn’t filled with life and innocence and pure, fiery mortality. The calm, darkened hints of immortality were starting to show around the edges. She hadn’t drawn a single sunset since her change, but she drew the city lights at night often.

The situation brought up unneeded problems. Her mother was mortified, and she blamed him for everything. He was sure she still did, even years later. He no longer spoke to Simon, because it was easier to blame him for it than to blame Clary, and he’d broken his knuckles punching him in his stupid vampire face. But despite all that, they were okay.

For a while, anyway.

It took him a few years to realize it, but he wasn’t actually adjusting as well as he thought he had been. He wasn’t adjusting at all. He was staying rooted firmly in the past, not moving forward, clinging to the memory of her rather than what she was presently. He always thought about how warm her hand used to be in his, how her breath would tickle his neck when she wrapped around him at night. He hated how cold her skin was and how still she lay beside him. There was a reason he enjoyed falling in love with mortals, why he thought it was worth it even with the inevitable loss that always lingered.

He wasn’t in love with her. He was in love with the memory of her. And that realization hit him like a freight train.

He still tried to hold on, if only to keep from breaking her heart. But he found that he rarely smiled, even when she smiled at him first, and he preferred to spend his time pouring over books and work in his study than being in her presence. He wasn’t _happy_ anymore. And he couldn’t bring himself to spend eternity unhappy, not even for her.

She was beginning to catch on, too.

“If you’re going to break up with me, then just do it.”

They’d been arguing again. It was something that happened more and more frequently. He couldn’t even remember what the original argument was over, but it had clearly escalated into something terrible. He studied the ceiling quietly with his arms crossed over his chest, examining the spiderweb cracks that spread over the plaster. Maybe he ought to fix those. Now that he noticed them, they really did take some of the charm from the room.

“ _Magnus_ \--”

Irritation prickled down his spine. He looked down at her, cat eyes narrowed. “ _Fine_. I’m breaking up with you.”

It looked as if she hadn’t really expected him to do it. She flinched and rocked back on her heels, like the words he spoke were a physical blow. He waited for guilt to settle over him for snapping at her and hurting her. It never did.

She took a step closer to him and he looked away, shaking his head. “You’re really breaking up with me? I thought you loved me.”

“I don’t,” he said shortly, and while he wasn’t looking at her, he could imagine the expression she was wearing. “Not anymore.”

“I changed my entire life for you. I gave up my _mortality_ for you!”

Suddenly, all the anger that he felt for the past decade boiled over. He was angry at her, angry at himself, angry at the way fate had twisted so wickedly. He was angry that she wasn’t human and angry that he’d ever met her. He was angry he’d let this relationship drag on as long as it did. He was angry that he didn’t do this sooner.

“I never asked you to!” His voice was an uncharacteristic shout, and when he looked at her, it was with darkened, icy eyes. “As a matter of fact, I specifically asked you not to! But since you never fucking listen, you did it anyway!” Now his voice dropped to something lower, something more intense. “I never wanted this. I never wanted you to live forever. It _changed_ you, Clary. And I hate it.”

Neither of them spoke for a long time after that. She looked at him, her arms wrapped around her self as if it were the only thing holding her together. For a moment, he remembered the young, lively girl he fell in love with. But only for a moment. Finally, he looked away, focusing his gaze on the way the city shone out the window. It didn’t look as pretty as it used to.

“I’m leaving for Paris in the morning,” he said calmly. “I’ll be gone the rest of the month. That should give you enough time to get your stuff together and find somewhere else to stay.” He glanced at her, watching the way her heartbreak played across her face, and closed his eyes. “I’m sorry.”

Then he turned his back on her and walked away, disappearing into his study and closing the door on her, on their relationship, and that particular chapter of his life.


End file.
